Category: 
August 7, 2008
I don’t know whether or not this is widespread problem, but I could find people who face this situation easily with a single search. The same applies to one of my friends; she said that she has this problem with previous and the current machine. For the first machine, she just left behind. However, she brought this to me this time.
The AC power adapter type cannot be determined. Your system will operate slower and battery will not charge.
It’s what you see above; this machine was locked to run as slow as it could–always 800MHz instead of 1.73Ghz. Whether the adapter couldn’t provide enough juice or the DC jack on this board is malfunction was possible here. It was really hard to decide if you didn’t have a spare adapter to test. Therefore, it left me no choice but buying a new adapter to test. Luckily Dell adapter was cheap =) only $28+$9 shipping from portabledetails.com and it took 3 days to arrive.
After I got a replacement–new one has a ground line as a plus, Dell probably realized that laptop case was not the best place as a ground (electrical charge was noticeable on the chassis when I put the old adapter.)
Soon after I popped up new adapter, the Inspiron 9400 was coming alive again; battery was charging immediately and it sucks full 90W–Kill a Watt meter told me. It’s really surprise that this 17″ laptop draws power even more than my desktop!
Briefly, this machine is only 1 and a half years old, and surely out of warranty. If you have this problem and it’s in warranty, Dell should not have any problem replacing the broken adapter for sure. In fact, this adapter basically should last longer than the laptop itself. I really have no clue how Dell took care of this design & manufacturer at first place since I never heard this problem with another brand yet. Maybe that’s just me 
Note: 90W draw occurs only when you have almost empty battery and/or run this machine simultaneously. 40-60W is a regular power draw for normal condition.
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Horaayy..there are 4 comment(s) for me so far ;)
Hi! I have the same problem, and also my Inspiron is almost the same age as yours. thats exactly the same error I received.I have bought a replacement adaptor and a battery since the battery that comes with the unit. doesn’t charge anymore. Dell rejects you whenever you contact their customer services. it even re-directs you on other pages. just in-order to get rid of you. they even include a FREE printer that comes with a dried nozzle cartridge. hehe just to get rid of their stocks.
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Thanks for info. It’s like there is a expiration date on the adapter.
ha ha at least you get something to play with for a sec or two =)
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You don’t know how much of a comfort finding this post on your blog was.
My power adapter for my Dell Inspiron e1505 (the computer and adapter are just over a year old) has been completely trashed. It’s a struggle getting it to give power to the battery which involves a lot of electrical tape and brute force.
I found a Dell adapter compatible with my machine on PortableDetails yesterday and went ahead and ordered it, but the website sort of sketched me out, I wasn’t sure I could trust it. Especially when the tracking number they gave me doesn’t bring anything up on UPS!
Knowing yours actually arrived makes me feel much better. Did you have any problems tracking your package?
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sipp11 Reply:
September 7th, 2008 at 3:36 am
Honestly I don’t remember about the tracking # at all since I got the package only 2 or 3 days after ordered it.
I checked in the view order detail page, I found the tracking # from UPS. It works just fine. You may have to wait a bit for UPS to upload it on the system, I guess. ^_^
Don’t worry you will be fine.
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